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Saturday, March 15, 2014

If you have ever read Psalm 119, you know that the author had no problem expressing his love for God. He had no trouble letting the feelings deep in his heart be known through his writing. He had a love for a God that He had never seen and this love penetrated down to the very marrow of his bones.

He talks of hiding the Word down in his heart to keep himself from sin. He talks of God opening his eyes to see the wonderful truths of the law. He says the Word revives him!

The author desires to be taught the precepts of the Lord, and he wants understanding of His teachings.

"LORD, you are mine! I promise

to obey your Words!" (Psalm 119:57) NLT

Do our hearts cry out like this? Oh, LORD, you belong to me! You are my portion!

Truly, that is what we must express from deep down in our spirits to our God! He has to be exciting to us! Our hearts must be stirred down deep by His precious Word! Our ears must receive this with eager anticipation of what we will hear!

I fear that we have lost that first love that we once had for God. We have become accustomed to the things of the world giving us our satisfaction and our security and so we put God on the back burner until times get tough.

How in the world has this happened? I think it is because of excess. We have too much. Too much entertainment and too much stuff. Too many toys and too many things that take priority over God. We spend too much money on things that don't matter. We spend too much time doing things that don't amount to a hill of beans. Too much time pleasing self and not near enough time growing self in Him.

It's time to renew our purpose in Christ. It's time to begin delighting ourselves in the Word of God and not in the world.

It is time for us believers to allow Him to amaze us once again!

"And they were all amazed at the

mighty power of God..." (Luke 9:43)

Oh, let's be filled with wonder at the very mention of His name! Let's be in awe of the works of His hands! Do we know Him enough to be filled with amazement at the very notion of who He is? If not, then let's get to know Him more! Read His Word! Study the scriptures! Spend some time face down before Him and ask him to reveal Himself to you in a new and life-changing way!

His Words are sweet in our mouth. It guides us and directs us. It lights our path and keeps us heading in the right direction. His Word is TRUTH. His Word gives light. His Word is LIFE!

Spend some time in quiet reflection and ask God to stir your heart with a desire for His Word. Ask Him to fill you with wonder at the very mention of His name. Pray that you will crave Him and His Word more than anything else and that it will bring life to your dead spirit! If we long for Him, He will come to us. He will pour out upon us in ways that we never dreamed possible. And when He does, we will be changed forever!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Opening the scriptures, my eyes fell on the sweet and powerful words of King Solomon found in 1 Kings 8:61:

"Let your heart therefore be perfect

with the LORD our God, to walk in

His statutes, and to keep

His commandments, as at this day"

As I gazed at the first part of this verse, my heart yearned to be perfect with my LORD! Oh, how I desire to walk in His statutes day after day. I want to keep His commandments diligently and walk in His way of perfection.

The words 'be perfect' become 'be fully committed' or 'be wholly true to' in other translations . No matter what translation of the Word we use, the meaning is the same. When we profess Christ as our LORD and Savior, it is imperative that we possess a desire within us to be truly, fully and perfectly committed to Him.

We need to be consistently and constantly obeying His commands. Walking in His statutes. And the only way we can ultimately do this is to really know what His statutes are. How do we do this?

We study the Word often! We study the Word in depth. We study the Word with eager expectation of what we will glean from it. We study it with a passion to learn.

My hearts desire is to be so in love with my LORD that I am willing to be fully surrendered to Him and to His Word. I want to be so in awe of who He is that I am willing to do whatever it takes to serve Him with my whole heart. To be obedient to any calling that He may place on my life.

He truly is my everything and I want to live my life so that it reflects Him to all those around me. I want my life to bring glory and honor to Christ in all that I say and do.

Do you want to have a heart that is perfect with Jesus? It will take work. It will take a purposed heart. It will take a determined spirit. It will take an act of our will to change our lifestyle to one that is pleasing and acceptable in His sight. It will take a denying of ourselves and a more exalted view of God.

But when we fully commit ourselves to be submissive to Christ, the Holy Spirit will empower us to put God first and fill us with sincerity of heart to be able to follow the LORD wholeheartedly.

May our hearts be filled with the impact of the sweet words of King Solomon and may we bow our hearts in humility of spirit as we petition our God for a mighty work to be performed in us. May we pursue perfection in our walk and full surrender in hearts. He is so worthy.